Wigan Warriors 36

Warrington Wolves 17

SATURDAY'S defeat had been coming.

As exceptional as the recent sequence of results had been - seven wins in a row suggests they were doing plenty of things right - Wolves had flirted with defeat in the last few weeks, particularly in their one-point win at Widnes.

Their form had never really returned to the heights of their brilliant comeback victory at Odsal in May, and although great credit must be given for keeping the run going, things finally caught up with them at Wigan.

There were other contributing factors of course - Lee Briers' absence with a thigh injury was a blow, and the loss of Mark Hilton with a back problem increased the workload of Chris Leikvoll, Paul Wood and Danny Lima, with Senior Academy prop Steve Pickersgill only used in the second half.

Despite that, Wolves, who were also without ankle injury victim Graham Appo, played their part in an open first period.

They even took the lead when Brent Grose left the Warriors defence trailing in his wake with an 80-metre run to the line in front of approximately 5,000 travelling supporters.

Mike Wainwright's offloading game created openings as Wolves' left side - so often overshadowed by the right - led the fight, with Toa Kohe-Love a constant danger.

But they ultimately paid for failing to take their chances, with Martin Gleeson, Henry Fa'afili and later Ben Westwood all dropping the ball when tries seemed inevitable.

Alarm bells started ringing when they emerged from the half-time interval without Kohe-Love and Jon Clarke, who had picked up respective chest and calf injuries before the break.

Westwood moved to left centre with Paul Noone coming on at loose forward, but Wolves were never the same in the second half, and although they hung on to the lead until the 58th minute, the Wigan pressure told when Brett Dallas went over.

For a few minutes it looked like a moment of individual brilliance from Chris Bridge, who had an intelligent game on his return from a back injury, would give them another chance. But his try was cancelled out as Wayne Godwin was adjudged to have touched down before making a second movement.

There were millimetres in it, but that marginal decision made all the difference as Wolves went under in the dying minutes, allowing Warriors to pile on 14 more points.

Again Wolves had lost at Wigan - their 18th consecutive defeat in the town - and again Warriors coach Ian Millward had come out on top against them.

The run of wins is over - it is how they move on that will be the test.

Match facts

Wigan Warriors 36

Warrington Wolves 17

Warriors: Chris Melling; Liam Colbon, Martin Aspinwall, David Vaealiki, Brett Dallas; Danny Orr, Dennis Moran; Bryn Hargreaves, Wayne Godwin, Jrme Guisset, David Allen, Stephen Wild, Liam Botham. Subs: Danny Tickle, Terry Newton, Jerry Seuseu, Harrison Hansen.

Wolves: Brent Grose; Henry Fa'afili, Martin Gleeson, Toa Kohe-Love, Dean Gaskell; Chris Bridge, Nathan Wood; Chris Leikvoll, Jon Clarke, Paul Wood, Logan Swann, Mike Wainwright, Ben Westwood. Subs used: Danny Lima, Mark Gleeson, Paul Noone, Steve Pickersgill.

Referee: Richard Silverwood

Scoring: Grose receives the ball 20m from his own posts and surges through the Wigan line for a trademark long-range try, 8mins, Bridge converts, 0-6; Moran gets on the end of his own grubber kick to touch down, 11mins, 4-6; Kohe-Love is fed by Wainwright before stepping inside a tackle and sliding over, 33mins, 4-10; Bridge lands 30m drop goal on stroke of half time, 40+mins, 4-11; Allen takes a pass from Newton and off-loads for Melling to cross, 49mins, Tickle goals, 10-11; Dallas scores after exchanging passes with Tickle, 58mins, Tickle adds extras, 16-11; Bridge elects to run the ball on the last tackle and brilliantly picks his way through the defence, 62mins, Bridge kicks goal, 16-17; Godwin just makes it over the whitewash after darting from dummy half and twisting beyond Wainwright, 69mins, Tickle converts, 22-17; Colbon has the easy task of touching down after beating Gaskell to Orr's bomb, 75mins, Tickle lands goal, 28-17; Tickle kicks penalty after Lima's high tackle, 80+mins, 30-17; Newton crosses after bundling his way through three challenges, 80+mins, Tickle goals, 36-17.

Pens: Warriors 7 Wolves 4

Scrums: Warriors 3 Wolves 7

Attendance: 14,162

Warrington Guardian top men: Chris Bridge 3pts, Mike Wainwright 2pts, Brent Grose 1pt.

Interesting note: Richard Silverwood was also in charge when Wolves suffered their last defeat at St Helens in April.

Results and fixtures

Other Round 20 results: Huddersfield 32 Leigh 22, London 32 Leeds 24, Salford 34 Widnes 16, St Helens 18 Hull 10, Wakefield 44 Bradford 34.

Super League Round 21 fixtures, tomorrow, Friday: Leeds v Salford, St Helens v Wigan (Sky 8pm). Saturday: Hull v Huddersfield (Sky 6.05pm). Sunday: Bradford v Leigh, Warrington v London (3pm), Widnes v Wakefield.